NLP: Getting computers to understand discourse

Language serves as a powerful lens with which to evaluate students’ understanding of complex topics. Natural language processing, or NLP, not only speeds up the process of discourse analysis, but also provides new insights into how people understand and produce language. This chapter describes how NLP has afforded intelligent tutoring systems that mimic effective in-person tutoring interactions and how the tools developed for handling natural language have been used to evaluate not only the surface-level components but also deep-level comprehension. We conclude by discussing future directions for the application and advancement of NLP that can inform both theory and practice.